ICT

ICT is a dynamic department with all staff committed to developing ICT resources and equipment within the school. Our main objective is to bring ICT equipment in line with all new developments and current business practices. The Westleigh School is dedicated to providing all pupils with the highest standard of teaching and state of the art, up to date technology.

In the summer of 2011 we renovated the ICT Faculty with high spec Dell workstations enhanced with an environment fit for any business. We have a server farm that has high capacity for storage, high levels of performance and continually review our server farm to provide the best service levels. We have plans to move our servers to a virtualised environment minimising the risks of any downtime and cost efficiently use resource pools. The aim is to provide access to IT resources without any disruption for our students.

We are also one of very few schools who have bought into the 'Microsoft schools agreement licence' that allows us to work on the latest Microsoft Office and Operating systems. We pride ourselves in providing our students with good quality, industry standard tools and equipment to allow them to work to their full potential. The school has recently migrated most of the PCs to Windows 7 and Office 2010, providing students access to corporate standard software.

Over the last year, we have replaced workstations in other faculty areas giving students access to high quality equipment throughout all subject areas. This is a model we continue to adopt to ensure students are provided with tools to help them achieve.

Virtual Learning Environment

Here at Westleigh we have a fully functional Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that gives pupils 24/7 access to resources and tasks. The VLE is used daily in the ICT Faculty and is a great way for us to engage with pupils as it allows them to work independently which is a key focus of the department. Parents are also provided with a login to the VLE which gives you access to information about your son/daughter such as Attendance Records, grades and resources.

Key stage 3

The Westleigh School offers a wide range of courses to inspire and motivate students. The courses and projects we have at the moment are as follows:

Year 7:

Using ICT

Web design and HTML

Graphics skills

Spreadsheets

Scratch

Year 8:

Databases

Advanced Scratch

Interactive Quizzes

Advanced Web Design

Spreadsheets

Python

Year 9:

Online safety

Password security

Computer viruses

Vector and bitmap graphics

Health and safety

Video editing

Databases

Spreadsheets

Copyright

Key Stage 4

CiDA (Certificate in Digital Applications)

As of September 2012, we are offering the CiDA which is equivalent to 2 GCSE's.
The CiDA is part of the suite of DiDA qualifications. DiDA is the Diploma in Digital Applications, a revolutionary suite of three paperless qualifications from Edexcel that focuses on the practical application of technology.

DiDA qualifications prepare students for the real world of work or further education. They are designed to stimulate students’ creativity and develop real-world, practical skills that will motivate learning across a wide range of subjects.

The suite of DiDA qualifications is designed to:

Develop students’ ability to select and use digital applications appropriately and produce high quality outcomes;

Promote the use of digital applications for achieving a goal, rather than for their own sake; enhance creativity and communication;

Equip students with some of the skills that they will need in the workplace or in further education or training;

Develop project management skills;

Free students work from paper, making it organised, searchable, dynamic and transportable; encourage students to reflect critically on their own and others use of digital applications.